igo6.] 



Lucerne and Trefoil Seed. 



87 



ing one from the other. Should they be mixed together by 

 accident or design, the colour of lucerne seed in itself is suffi- 

 cient, in that it is uniformly yellowish throughout the entire 

 seed. The appearance of the seed, its colour, uniformity, bold 

 character, and freedom from brown or dead seeds, are all points 

 indicative of commercial worth. 



In examining a sample of lucerne seed to determine its 

 purity the first and most obvious question is whether it is 

 genuine, and secondly comes the constantly recurring question — 



Fig. 4. — Denticulate Medick {Medicago deiitiadata) (magnified six diameters). 



Is it free from dodder ? As regards genuineness^the writer has 

 on several occasions found that the seeds of spotted medick and 

 denticulate medick have been used to adulterate the true lucerne 

 — or entirely substituted for it — and sold on the English market 

 as Chili lucerne. 



Dodder (of whatever species) is, as a rule, fatal to the sale of 

 the seed containing it when its presence is once known to the 

 buyer. In the writer's opinion, however small the quantity, it i« 

 not a safe purchase, and this view of the matter is held by many 

 of the largest seed merchants in the market, and is borne out by 

 the oft-repeated statement : " If the sample contains dodder, even 

 only a trace, I will not touch it at any price." 



The farmer, in purchasing lucerne, as other seeds, from seed 



